1. (C) Summary: Sweden is "worried" about the November 9
municipal elections in Nicaragua but has not yet called for a
vote recount. Instead, it will follow EU consensus on the
issue, expected to be reached at the EU's COLAT meeting in
January. End Summary.

2. (C) On December 1, Poloff delivered reftel demarche to
Mikael Stahl, Americas Department Desk Officer. Stahl
explained that the officer in charge of Nicaraguan issues,
Sara Ramirez, was on leave but that he would ask her to call
when she returned. On December 11, Poloff spoke with
Ramirez, who noted that Sweden has joined others in the EU in
expressing "worries" about the municipal elections but that
Stockholm was not yet demanding a recount. Instead, Ramirez
noted, the issue of scheduled for discussion by EU Latin
America experts at January's COLAT working group and Sweden
will follow the EU consensus.

3. (U) Ramirez added that Sweden closed its embassy in
Managua on September 1 after the Swedish International
Development Agency, SIDA, decided to end development
cooperation in Nicaragua. She stated that SIDA has been
directed to focus development efforts in fewer countries, and
had decided to close programs in 40 of the 70 countries where
it worked. Once the SIDA mission folded up, the main reason
for the embassy presence disappeared also. Relations with
Nicaragua and five other Central American states are handled
out of Sweden's mission in Guatemala now, Ramirez noted.
WOOD

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